1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automated parking system for motor vehicles in silos including cells, carports, corridors, ramps and the like. The motor vehicle is carried by lifting and translation devices, including, for example, one or more elevators which move along a vertical (Z) axis and two or more trolleys which move along two directions (X,Y) in a plane perpendicular to the vertical axis.
2. Description of the Related Art
The construction of conventional car parks are mainly based on driving of vehicles through long ramps and corridors up to carports. These systems require large surfaces. They have slow circulation speed, and they are greatly limited with regard to car space capacity, that is, the possibility of expanding aboveground and underground because of the serious atmospheric pollution problems (high concentration of exhaust gases inside the parking building), which markedly increases when the silos are expanded. Systems of the type according to patent applications EP-A-0351374 and CH-A-670129 have developed in order to meet the ever increasing demand for car parks. These systems make the best use of the ever more limited areas available for their construction.
These systems have advantages, such as the areas employed and the security of the parked vehicle, but they still lack speed, operating capacity, efficiency, yield, reduced costs and availability at the highest information technology levels (to quote only a few of the main deficiencies of the above-mentioned systems). Thus they are not competitive with the traditional silos.